St. Stephen

OK Lorne. I didn't go back far enough (the end of my digital photos is ~ a little over 20 yrs ago). However, here's an action photo of me about to drag my knee, wearing, obviously, ATGATT. I challenge all here at VFRD to name vehicle brand as well as engine. Cheers!

Ok Lorne, you got me sucked into this topic. May 2006, my riding buddy Markus chatting it up as usual with another two-wheel enthusiast at about 4000 ft near Asheville on the BRP. 6th gens, my red and his silver. I've always really liked this photo.

A big +1 to that! I always figured if I bought another VFR I'd just ask Grum if I could ship the whole bike to him in SE Australia and have him sort out the electrics! 😉

Haha, I stand corrected, Italians doing Italian things. But at least reliability is now at least very good as we both seem to agree. Hope to do a Feather River run this summer up there in the northern Sierra near you, it's been a few years.

vfrcapn is correct. I'm on the 3rd fuel tank sensor on my 2017 Multistrada, although to be fair it is the only issue of any kind I've had with the bike after 26K miles, and it obviously is not mission-critical. They replaced the first one for free but I had to pay for the 2nd one. However, that was four years ago, and their claim that it was finally fixed with a re-design appears to be true. Ducati had a rep for manufacturing quality control--the dealer where I bought my 2002 VFR dropped Ducati because they couldn't get repair parts in August when the factory shut down for a month! But that is in the rear view mirror, the last 15 years or so they are as good as any other manu, and seem to have upgraded the build process by learning from owners Audi/VW.

Hi St. Stephen, Thank you for your donation of 50.00 USD. We look forward to improving the forums with your donation. Thanks VFRDiscussion

Lots of rain recently but a nice day today before it all returns tomorrow. Did a thorough chain cleaning, adjustment and lube Tuesday so felt like everything was ready and prepped for a 10 day trip! However, this was not a 10 day trip, just 60 miles. I may complain about the rain but spring after an El Nino winter is beautiful here. Sorry it's not a VFR, but...red...V cylinders...motorcycle Squint and you can see the Pacific ocean...

You didn't mention if you stayed upright. 😎

"Gaslight" directed by George Cukor in 1944 and starring Ingrid Bergman and Charles Boyer. Basically the bad guy husband in the 1880's in London tries to drive his wife crazy, including turning down the gaslights and then pretending nothing was wrong. Not a bad film for its era. I'm pretty sure this key bit of information will solve your rear shock issue immediately! 😎

Hey Philois, as bmart has pointed out, here in the states the motogp app is available on my AppleTV device, but the WSBK app is not available in the Apple app store. I too just use the website for my euro 69.90 subscription and it works well enough. When I want to see WSBK on the TV I mirror my (Mac) laptop, which works fine. It sounds like they just made the app for phones? Anyway, while I can't say with certainty what works in Queensland, just use the website on your laptop/computer.

Nine inches of rain here so far this month. True, no snow, but still. So this ride will be nothing but CA sunshine, I'm sure. Here's a good weather shot of the usual suspects not too long ago. Of course they've purchased new bikes since then.

Nice bike Paul, exhaust particularly. Is that a sea of rocks? Perhaps a feature of Wales I am unaware of?

Yeah, "Powersports" is the word for many motorcycle dealers now, particularly the non-cruiser ones. But hey, Honda still creates some cool bikes! Johann Zarco's LCR Honda bike was just revealed, and as an RC-51 rider I just love the livery. (apologies for the hijack)

I've always felt there might be a Hawk in my future. It would join the two other V-twins in my garage. Simple, light and good looking. But...Triumph is bringing back the Daytona, the 675cc engine I believe. Whenever I've been behind a Daytona I just loved the sound of the triple. The 2024 Daytona is I believe under $10K. It doesn't have sophisticated suspension adjustability, or a lot of other bells and whistles, but it's around 430 lbs. and has lots of opportunity to modify into a great track day bike. Looking forward to seeing one in person. (I too have never owned an inline four)

Apologies to Skids who just wanted to research a good bike video system. This has turned into a cager rant. But if we're honest, 90% of us are cagers at least part of the time, right? Anyway, early covid--2020-ish--the number of cars on the road here dropped maybe 75%. And the number of speeding tickets went up about 100%. All those guys in their muscle cars (and in Marin especially the Turbo Carreras, 7 series BMW's, Ferraris...) saw the open road and took out their frustration of 20 years of commuting on highway 101 at 10 mph, in the absence of, well, almost everyone else on the road except the CHP. One the one hand, on my bike approaching a left turn I know well when a 70's-era 911 comes through the other direction, sideways and all over the double yellow, was rather fun to watch once I braked, swerved, and realized I would not die. But it sure was a lesson that a seemingly empty road isn't a safe road.

Well, after a few months on the smart charger, in the garage (I have friends who think garages are for cars, go figure), and not moving an inch, the RC of course started immediately, manual fast idle aka choke pulled out. It's a Honda. Barely over 40 miles but far enough to get rid of the moisture in the crankcase, and get my arms and knees used to the sportbike position again. Around here this time of year the back roads that aren't well travelled get a bit of moss or other plant life growing in the middle of the lane where car tires don't go, so I took it easy. Mostly. I moved the odometer! 😀 PCH today just south of Tomales:

No sympathy from those of you parked for the winter, but the heavy rains here may back off tomorrow and the RC wants to go out first:

Also very cool that it mentions my favorite racer from the early/mid '80's, Mike Baldwin. Mike was a top AMA Superbike racer, international gp racer, Honda Interceptor racer...and he was from New England, where I mostly grew up. Saw him race many times at Loudon and Pocono, as well as the 1988 Laguna Seca gp, always on a Honda. Probably one of the reasons I bought my first VFR, er, VF, er, I mean Interceptor... 😎

Skids, at least you ride on the left at home! I've driven cars in the UK, Ireland and Australia, but never a bike. Really had to focus in roundabouts and when making u-turns the first couple of days! OK, one more...

Well, in that case I can't resist posting a few more NZ photos. Sorry, I was on an RT, not a VFR, but not that different from your ST. I'm sure you know this tunnel: IPA! And you know this mountain: The walking birds were actually very polite: Scenic, every day: Keep posting those ride photos Terry.

Great photos Terry. You got me to look up Cape Reinga too! Really cold here also, only a high of 55, brrrr. 😉 Thanks for the great photos. I did 10 days of riding in NZ in 2015 but all south island, never got further north than Auckland--so here's the other end of your country:

That sucks Bren, hope your 2024 is better. Hang in there! House and two kids for me too, but fortunately not that wife part. Early days we moved for my job and my ratty GS400 got stolen at work, couldn't afford a replacement. After my only four adult years w/o a bike we went out to eat, told her I just had to get another bike (VF of course). She was fine with it. 😊 BTW, she was six months pregnant.

(Disclaimer: you won't learn anything about VFR's in this post. I don't even provide an opinion on motor oil) I was shocked! I knew that 2023 was my worst mileage year in a decade or two. But I had a bunch of reasons: About 10 months ago the surgeons at UCSF repaired the mitral valve in my heart. Surgery and recovery rehab pretty much eliminated riding for the spring. A simmering, ongoing consulting gig of maybe 10 billable hours/month suddenly and unintentionally took over my life starting in July. Ironically--because of my own personnel recommendations--I became the acting head of operations for a regional movie theatre chain. Fortunately I was able to find my permanent replacement in November. And...my wife and I now have a grandson, currently 22 months, and we have pretty much been commuting to our son and DIL's place in San Diego. 😊 Where was I? Oh yeah, I was shocked. Yesterday I took a look at the odometer on the Ducati. I then compared it to last year, and...400 was the difference. 400 effing miles in 2023!! That's pathetic. Even if I generously add in another 400 on the RC-51 that's less than 1000 miles in a year. Wow. So I checked my photos on this laptop, and it was another shock. For the first year in the history of digital photography I had not taken a single bike picture! This was the most recent pic I could find, probably my final ride of 2022, December 23rd: As JZH said in his recent build thread, I really just had a lot of excuses. Unlike Darryl I was physically and legally able to ride by May. If something is important to you, you don't just drop that activity to do other things no matter how important they may also be. I live in one of the great motorcycle riding regions in North America--we can ride pretty much year-round, the roads are fantastic and plentiful, and there's an abundance of natural beauty only a day or two's ride away. And I own two bikes--2017 Multistrada Tour S, 2003 RC-51--that I love, are incredibly reliable, and are really tons of fun to ride. So. Time to get off my ass and behind the bars. Trip planning time! Up to Oregon. A trip through the Sierra, into AZ, the four corners and the Rockies? My favorite Eureka/Yreka/Fortuna loop (aka 299-96-3-36)? San Diego of course. And just hitting the PCH/128/253 etc. when the right day opens up. Anyway, if you're still reading this diatribe you probably understand the self-induced frustration. No excuses in 2024: More to follow...

Good luck JZH! I look forward to seeing you on the finished bike after a long and exhilarating ride.

The AGV "exceeds the ECE standard by a large margin" according to the AGV website, as well as U.S. DOT. This is definitely one of the reasons it was on my list. And it may not mean much to say you protect the heads of Rossi, Miller, Mir etc. but it means something. Lab tests only roughly replicate actual crashes. There's not a lot of public funding for motorcycle safety, at least not here in North America, but I have read that manufacturers are now testing side impact and glancing blows in addition to simple direct impact. So ECE, Snell, DOT is what we've got to go by. A manufacturer that's been around for a while and has a rep for quality is an important factor also--I continue to believe that Arai is the gold standard here. You may get a safe helmet that's cheap, but as Dutchy and Captain mentioned, fit and comfort are safety factors too. And I won't lie, I care how it looks! This hasn't turn into an oil thread but it was drifting in that direction. Since this is VFRD at least no one chimed in with "you're safer without a helmet." 😎